Dryad is a community west of Chehalis in west central Lewis County. It is one of many lumber towns that were once on the Chehalis-South Bend branch of Northern Pacific Railway. The town was once two miles south of the present location, and was called Salal. It moved when Leudinghaus Brothers of Chehalis built a sawmill at the present site. Its name, supplied by Northern Pacific Railway officials, at the suggestion of W. C. Albee, who was superintendent of the South Bend branch -- is mythological. It is for the wood nymph or dryad, who lived in oak trees. Albee figured that the dryad might get used to living in the local fir and cedar trees.

Farming and logging also benefited from Asian labor. From 1857 to 1889 Chinese built sawmills and logging roads in Kitsap County, and worked in mills in Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, and Seattle. Japanese and Filipinos worked in lumber camps at Mukilteo, Port Blakeley, Tacoma and Bellingham. Farming was perhaps even a larger employer of Asian labor, and also provided many immigrants the opportunity to own their own land. Filipinos and Chinese harvested hops and other produce in south King County and the Yakima Valley.